Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Queen of Sheba - a portrait of Godly desires


The Word paints a beautiful picture in Chronicles 9 of how a queen who had heard of a king, whom in all his splendor seemed to hold the key to wisdom, and fullness of life. She traveled to him, with a large caravan and many gifts, to inquire of him. The word says “She came to Solomon and talked with him about all she had on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain to her” What a beautiful picture of the loving relationship that Christ desires to have with us. He wants us to talk to Him about everything. There is nothing He doesn’t have an answer to, as long as we sit with Him, and listen. How this queen must have marveled at this amazing man. The word says when she saw him, and all he had, all his wisdom, “she was overwhelmed.” For a queen to be overwhelmed, when sitting amongst other royalty, it must have been that she saw things in this man, which she had never seen, or even imagined she could see. What splendor! There have been many times in my walk with Christ, that I have felt this – being overwhelmed by His love, goodness, what He has planned for us, how He works. There are just no words to describe Him justly. The queen of Sheba goes on to say how she had heard about this Solomon, but she did not believe until she saw with her own eyes.  There is one thing I want to point out here – king Solomon was always there and available, but the queen had to go and seek him. When she did, what she had heard was nothing compared to what she experienced. The passage goes on to describe the gifts that she had brought to Solomon. They were rare. No one had ever seen spices like hers; no one had ever seen the algumwood before. I can only imagine how the King who seemed to have it all, treasured and was thrilled to have such rare precious new gifts. In the same way I challenge you to thing, what do you have that is rare, to offer up to God? Money is not rare. While obedience is harder to come by, it is still not the rarest. Perhaps the rarest gift you have to offer the King of Kings is – your heart, you. There is none like you.
So I leave you with the result of this most fabulous story of how a queen was completely blown away and satisfied in her quest. The word says, not only did he use the wood she brought to be a permanent fixture in the temple he built, but he sent her away with more than she came to him with. Such is the work of our God. You will always leave his presence with more than you brought, if you are presenting him with the most rare gift – yourself.